Face Recognition Technology Now Works in the Dark

Being able to identify an individual based on his facial features is very useful for law enforcement, but face recognition technology is also implemented in various gadgets for security or convenience purposes. In its standard form, face recognition works by comparing two images of the subject, but these images must be taken in very good lighting conditions in order to achieve the best results. However, thanks to a group of researchers from Germany, the technology can now be applied in the dark by tracking the individual’s heat signature.

The breakthrough will probably not affect regular people in any way, but it will definitely make the jobs of government agencies and law enforcement officials a lot easier. It’s also worth noting that the tech is still in its early stages, which means that it still needs some fine-tuning before it becomes usable. The problem is that a thermal image of a human’s face can vary greatly depending on several factors such as the weather. Also, a person who just went through an intense workout can give off a different thermal image when compared to a man who’s been relaxing all day. Comparing the thermal image with a series of well-lit images yielded an accuracy rate of 80%, while one to one comparisons resulted in an accuracy rate of just 55%.

Clearly, there’s still a bit of work to be done, but I’m confident that researchers will soon find ways to perfect the tech.